The Hoosiers open exhibition play with the Lions, a Division II team led by former Kelvin Sampson assistant Bobby Champagne. Champagne is entering his fifth season with North Alabama. North Alabama finished 15-14 last season and returns two back court starters. Quinn Beckwith is their top returning player. The 6’0″, 185 pound guard averaged 15.2 points a year ago and will anchor the North Alabama offense. You can read more about the North Alabama program by clicking here.

As a part of our Game Thread/Live Blog, you’re encouraged to share your thoughts on the game in the comments section. For those of you unable to see the game, we’ll be providing commentary and feedback throughout the contest.

Indiana 121, North Alabama 76 (final) – Gordon and White are done for the day and Kelvin Sampson is emptying the bench. Ahlfeld is in. Finkelmeier is in. Mike White, however, still hasn’t made an appearance. Crawford now has 30 points. McGee shows some touch as he nails a three. Holman gets fouled and throws up a wild shot that goes in. Holman finishes the three-point play. Finkelmeier misses a running three as time expires. Recap coming shortly.

Indiana 113, North Alabama 66 (3:11) – Eric Gordon gets a breakaway dunk and the “Eric Gordon” chants start. Gordon follows it up with another easy layup. He’s got 24 points on 10 of 15 shooting. It appears his tooth is chipped, not totally out upon further review. Crawford gets another easy bucket. He’s got 24 points as well. Sampson is talking to both McGee and Holman on the bench. Both have looked raw but capable of helping the team. Crawford is fouled on a breakaway and lobs it for Gordon who misses a reverse two handed slam that wouldn’t have counted. Plenty of “ooh’s” and “ahh’s” from the crowd on that play. Kyle Taber makes his first appearance. Still no sign of Mike White.

Indiana 99, North Alabama 62 (7:22) – Gordon returns with a mouthpiece and White quickly finds him cutting to the basket for an easy bucket. Ellis backs that up with a three. Ellis is really starting to assert himself offensively. McGee gets a rebound and put back bucket and hits a foul shot to complete a three-point play. Gordon rifles a pass to McGee underneath who is unable to finish but will go to the line for two free throws. McGee looks solid from the line. Gordon finds McGee once again in transition and he heads to the line once again. McGee has nine points and four rebounds. Gordon buries a NBA range three from the top of the key. DeAndre Thomas has fouled out.

Indiana 84, North Alabama 58 (11:55) – Crawford nails another three. He’s on fire. 5 of 5 so far. Make that 6 of 6. He’s got 22 points and leaves to a nice round of applause. Bassett follows it up with a layup and a chance for a three point play. Gordon has returned to the bench, but I doubt he’ll return. The Hoosiers are easily going to eclipse the 100-point mark. We could see an Adam Ahlfeld appearance.

Indiana 67, North Alabama 50 (15:01) – Jamarcus Ellis shows a nice touch on a floater towards the basket. I really like the versatility of the lefty’s game. Gordon took an arm to the face and it looks like he’s lost a tooth. He’s headed back to the trainer’s room to get checked out. Not good. Sloppy start to the second half for IU. The defense is clearly not in mid-season form. Crawford hits another three. He’s got 16 points to lead IU.

Indiana 55, North Alabama 39 (halftime) – Sloppy play the last 3:55 of the half allows North Alabama to creep back into the game. Too much dribbling and one-on-one for the Hoosiers. Gordon makes an outstanding defensive play as he pins a ball on the backboard to save an easy layup. Announcers mention that Gordon is working on his off the ball defense. Crawford and Gordon are leading the attack with 13 points each in the first half. White has 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocks. Bassett has 8, Stemler 2, Ellis 3, Thomas 3, McGee 2.

Indiana 47, North Alabama 26 (3:55) – Two dynamic plays for Gordon right out of the break: The first was a breakaway 2 on 1 with Jordan Crawford, the pass was off the mark but Gordon grabbed it left hand and made a layup. Gordon then got a breakaway on his own and finished with a one-handed jam. The latter triggered a 20-second timeout for the Lions. Brandon McGee’s first look is a missed three from the corner. Probably not was Coach Sampson was looking for out of the Chicago Crane product. Ellis finds Crawford underneath the basket in traffic for a one handed flush.

Indiana 39, North Alabama 17 (7:46) – Another three for Crawford, this time from about 22 feet. Gordon and White re-enter and Eli Holman makes his first appearance. Ellis shows off a dynamic spin move but is called for a charge as he attacks the basket. White, by the way, is noticeably thinner and in the best shape I’ve ever seen him. Armon Bassett seems to be struggling a bit on defense, but he’s hit a three and converted a three-point play. Holman gets his first chance offensively, but misses a baby hook and comes back and commits a foul on defense.

Indiana 31, North Alabama 15 (11:31) – Jordan Crawford’s first play as a Hoosier is one dribble off a pick and a three. DeAndre Thomas is also in the game and he quickly collects a rebound. He’s an absolute space eater. Crawford follows up the three with a breakaway dunk. Gordon is 4 of 6 from the field with nine points. Thomas and White are both in the game and Thomas comes to the high post and feeds D.J. with a lob pass for a dunk. Thomas follows that with a layup where the defender tried to take a charge but was knocked to the floor. The rout is on, folks.

Indiana 14, North Alabama 11 (15:41) – Eric Gordon has five points early for the Hoosiers, but they’ve had some defensive lapses that have allowed the Lions to stay in the game. Everyone’s scored early sans Lance Stemler and D.J. has been aggressive thus far down on the block. Coach Sampson is probably not pleased with the defense so far and rightfully so.

Pretty exciting so far with all of the new pieces. It’s a shame the BTN fiasco hasn’t been worked out yet.

Luke

I got the BTN the new guys look great. Gordon is a man and crawford and mcgee can flat out shoot the rock. It’s going to a fun season!

Luke

I got the BTN the new guys look great. Gordon is a man and crawford and mcgee can flat out shoot the rock. It’s going to a fun season!

Luke

I got the BTN the new guys look great. Gordon is a man and crawford and mcgee can flat out shoot the rock. It’s going to a fun season!

ray

impressive. yeah, those fans that say they don’t want BTN must be crazy. this year is absolutely going to be one of the most enjoyable seasons to watch. crawford is a stud, no doubt about it. deandre has excellent hands for a big guy, probably had a couple of fouls called on him only because he’s huge…he had three steals. eli is going to be a very solid defender…i wonder how many blocks he had in his short minutes? basset showed he can shoot from outside and still has the finishing touch when driving to the bucket. overall, very impressed with all the newcomers and returning players. this is going to be fun. get the btn folks!

ray

impressive. yeah, those fans that say they don’t want BTN must be crazy. this year is absolutely going to be one of the most enjoyable seasons to watch. crawford is a stud, no doubt about it. deandre has excellent hands for a big guy, probably had a couple of fouls called on him only because he’s huge…he had three steals. eli is going to be a very solid defender…i wonder how many blocks he had in his short minutes? basset showed he can shoot from outside and still has the finishing touch when driving to the bucket. overall, very impressed with all the newcomers and returning players. this is going to be fun. get the btn folks!

ray

impressive. yeah, those fans that say they don’t want BTN must be crazy. this year is absolutely going to be one of the most enjoyable seasons to watch. crawford is a stud, no doubt about it. deandre has excellent hands for a big guy, probably had a couple of fouls called on him only because he’s huge…he had three steals. eli is going to be a very solid defender…i wonder how many blocks he had in his short minutes? basset showed he can shoot from outside and still has the finishing touch when driving to the bucket. overall, very impressed with all the newcomers and returning players. this is going to be fun. get the btn folks!

Nick

Saw the game, the Hoosiers look good…Crawford, Gordon and basset all can just plain score, Ratliff is going to have trouble getting back in the rotation after Christmas. If not for the others, each of these guys could average 20.

Basset’s jumper was on yesterday which makes him very dangerous. Gordon could get to the basket whenever he wanted. He didn’t look that quick, but just has a knack for getting past people and finishes really strong. Also stroked a couple of nice three while being closely guarded. You can tell that they trying get him and DJ to touch he ball on most possessions.

Long-term, Crawford may be the biggest signing in that class, they were already saying on Peegs that he might be the next Cheney or Guyton (e.g. 3-star, borderline top-100 guy who you know is actually a future all-conference type player as soon as you see him play). I know it was an exhibition, but any time you score 30 points in 20 minutes of playing time, while still getting a couple of assists, you have to have some skills…his play was consistent with what Sampson said all summer, Crawford is going to be one of the better players on this team from day 1.

DeAndre is fat as hell and really short, but is pretty smooth, a good passer and good around the basket. He is a good defender down low, but cant be forced to move too far away from the basket. However, he is one of those guys who is just a little too short and cant jump quite high enough to be an effective rebounder, a lot of tipping the ball around, where a tall player/better leaper would have just gone up and got it.

DJ is as skinny as you have ever seem him, but was bouncing all over the place, getting his hands on all kind of shots. He releases that little 4-6 foot jumper so quick and high that it is pretty unstoppable. He must have had 6 or 7 assists and made good passes out of the post as soon as he saw the double team coming (as opposed to last year, when he often waited until the double team arrived). Also, he was all over the offensive glass.. I want to say he had 15 pts, 10 reb, 7 assist and 3 blocks in 20 minutes

Holman is limited offensively, but when he and white are on the floor at the same time, it is going to be hard for anyone to finish around the basket..

Ellis doesn’t seem to be looking to score a ton, but seems to pick his spots well, he is scrapper, a good passer and a good rebounder…I think he will be like an 10/6/6 kind of guy on a nightly basis…he also had SIX steals

McGee looks like he could play 3 or 4, he plays hard down low (drew quite a few fouls) and has a nice looking jumper from the baseline, even hit a three from the corner.

Stemler was ho-hum on offense and missed his only 3 (per usual), but played good defense.

Nick

Saw the game, the Hoosiers look good…Crawford, Gordon and basset all can just plain score, Ratliff is going to have trouble getting back in the rotation after Christmas. If not for the others, each of these guys could average 20.

Basset’s jumper was on yesterday which makes him very dangerous. Gordon could get to the basket whenever he wanted. He didn’t look that quick, but just has a knack for getting past people and finishes really strong. Also stroked a couple of nice three while being closely guarded. You can tell that they trying get him and DJ to touch he ball on most possessions.

Long-term, Crawford may be the biggest signing in that class, they were already saying on Peegs that he might be the next Cheney or Guyton (e.g. 3-star, borderline top-100 guy who you know is actually a future all-conference type player as soon as you see him play). I know it was an exhibition, but any time you score 30 points in 20 minutes of playing time, while still getting a couple of assists, you have to have some skills…his play was consistent with what Sampson said all summer, Crawford is going to be one of the better players on this team from day 1.

DeAndre is fat as hell and really short, but is pretty smooth, a good passer and good around the basket. He is a good defender down low, but cant be forced to move too far away from the basket. However, he is one of those guys who is just a little too short and cant jump quite high enough to be an effective rebounder, a lot of tipping the ball around, where a tall player/better leaper would have just gone up and got it.

DJ is as skinny as you have ever seem him, but was bouncing all over the place, getting his hands on all kind of shots. He releases that little 4-6 foot jumper so quick and high that it is pretty unstoppable. He must have had 6 or 7 assists and made good passes out of the post as soon as he saw the double team coming (as opposed to last year, when he often waited until the double team arrived). Also, he was all over the offensive glass.. I want to say he had 15 pts, 10 reb, 7 assist and 3 blocks in 20 minutes

Holman is limited offensively, but when he and white are on the floor at the same time, it is going to be hard for anyone to finish around the basket..

Ellis doesn’t seem to be looking to score a ton, but seems to pick his spots well, he is scrapper, a good passer and a good rebounder…I think he will be like an 10/6/6 kind of guy on a nightly basis…he also had SIX steals

McGee looks like he could play 3 or 4, he plays hard down low (drew quite a few fouls) and has a nice looking jumper from the baseline, even hit a three from the corner.

Stemler was ho-hum on offense and missed his only 3 (per usual), but played good defense.